The Glass Republic re-read (Ch 9 – 12)

Hello!! Jo Fletcher Books is holding a re-read of The Skyscraper Throne series by Tom Pollock in anticipation of the third book in the series, Our Lady of the Streets. This week I get to host it, and recap Chapters 9 – 12 of The Glass Republic. Let’s begin with a little information about the book:

Pen’s life is all about secrets: the secret of the city’s spirits, deities and monsters her best friend Beth discovered, living just beyond the notice of modern Londoners; the secret of how she got the intricate scars that disfigure her so cruelly – and the most closely guarded secret of all: Parva, her mirror-sister, forged from her reflections in a school bathroom mirror. Pen’s reflected twin is the only girl who really understands her.

Then Parva is abducted and Pen makes a terrible bargain for the means to track her down. In London-Under-Glass looks are currency, and Pen’s scars make her a rare and valuable commodity. But some in the reflected city will do anything to keep Pen from the secret of what happened to the sister who shared her face.

Ch. 9

“For a split second she kicked at empty air, and then she plummeted down through the hole in the river.”

Pen screws up all her courage and makes her way behind the mirrors. The chapter is mostly inner reflection and shows Pen’s determination, not only to rescue her mirror-sister but also to get back to her world.

Ch. 10

“Fifty feet high, every pore blown up to the size of a dinner plate, immaculate dark makeup making her eyes luminous and picking out each individual scar: Pen’s own face smiled back at her from the billboard canvas.”

There’s a lot going on here. From the moment Pen surfaces from the Thames into the strange mirror-land, she’s in danger. First, of drowning, then of being shot, and finally, of giving herself away. The confusion and fear Pen feels in this world is clear to readers because we are just as confused and fearful. This chapter marks the end of Part I.

Ch. 11

“She’d assumed that the London she knew would be a map for London-Under-Glass, but it wasn’t.

We get to see more of London-Under-Glass, and Pen slowly gets her bearings. She meets a bunch of new people who all defer to her because she’s the ‘Mirror Countess’. Pen makes a decision to pretend she’s Parva, but soon realises it’s not going to be as easy as she’d hoped.

Ch. 12

“We are the Faceless.”

Pen’s barely regained her footing in London-Under-Glass, and she’s got a clue about Parva’s fate. The Faceless are introduced as a rebellious (terrorist) cell.

My thoughts

These four chapters are full of action, with Pen making the journey into the mirror world and then struggling with trying to understand Parva’s place within the Mirror society. I think they’re cleverly done, and set us up for the amazing adventure Pen has in London-Under-Glass.